Aaron (Comic Series)
Aaron is a character first encountered in Issue 67 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead. He is one of the original residents of Alexandria Safe-Zone, formally working as a recruiter. He worked with Eric, who was his work partner and boyfriend. Aaron was responsible for bringing Rick and his people into Alexandria and developed a close bond with the group, making Aaron one of Rick's most trusted allies. Following the Whisperer War, Aaron became Paul Monroe's boyfriend and they moved together to the Hilltop Colony. Several years after Rick's death, Aaron and Paul moved to live by a riverbank. Pre-Apocalypse Location Unknown Not much is known about Aaron's life prior to or as the outbreak began, except that he may was in a relationship with Eric before the outbreak occurred. It is also possible if Aaron lived in or near Alexandria before the outbreak. It is also known that he graduated from an unspecified college shortly before the outbreak began. Around the same time, he met and began dating a man who was interested in basketball; what became of him during or after the outbreak is unknown. Post-Apocalypse Life Among Them Aaron was among one of the original survivors in the Alexandria Safe-Zone along with his boyfriend, Eric. The leader of Alexandria, Douglas Monroe, found Aaron to be one of his most trusted allies. Aaron's duty in the safe-zone was to recruit outsider survivors for Alexandria with Eric protecting him. Aaron and Eric would search for new survivors and they would observe their behavior and determine if they were safe enough to be a part of the community. Aaron would then approach the survivors unarmed while Eric stood by, ready to defend Aaron. Those who accepted Aaron's offer would travel with him and Eric to Alexandria and meet Douglas, who would ultimately decide if they could stay in Alexandria. While out recruiting, Aaron and Eric found a large group of survivors led by Rick Grimes as they were traveling from Georgia to Washington and decided to approach them. Surprised and afraid of an attack, Rick punched Aaron, knocking him out. The group ties Aaron up and interrogates him after regaining consciousness. Aaron reveals to Rick and his group an invitation to "audition for membership" into the safe-zone. Rick was suspicious of Aaron's calm and friendly behavior, reminding him of his encounter with the Governor. However, Michonne supports Aaron's claims, believing he is nothing like the Governor. During this, a herd roams into the area. Glenn unties Aaron and gives him a gun - allowing Aaron to help defend the group. Aaron offers back the gun and to be tied back up. This action helps Rick decide to follow Aaron back to Alexandria. On their way to the city, the group spots Eric on his four-runner. With the group becoming alarmed, Aaron reveals Eric to be his work partner. Enraged now learning that they were being spied on and that there were others out there with them, Rick demands to know how many more are out with them. Aaron claims it's just Eric. After Aaron and Eric share a quick embrace, the group spots a flare coming from the city. Aaron reveals that its one of their own and they're in trouble. Entering the city, Aaron finds Alexandria's supply runners, Heath and Scott surrounded by roamers, with Scott having a broken leg. The group rescues them and they all arrive at the gates of Alexandria. After entering, Aaron asks Rick to speak with Douglas Monroe and have an interview about staying in Alexandria. Following the acceptance of Rick's group, Douglas Monroe throws a welcoming party for Rick's group. Aaron and Eric attend the party, gaining the attention of some of the gossiping women of Alexandria - claiming Aaron and Eric are having a three-way with Douglas Monroe's handsome son, Spencer. After the party, Aaron and Eric returned outside the safe-zone for another recruiting mission. This time, Aaron and Eric took two of Maggie Greene's horses. Too Far Gone While on their recruiting mission, Aaron and Eric spotted a lone female survivor. Aaron approached the woman and offered her the chance to stay in Alexandria. The woman agreed and Eric joined them on their journey back. One night, the woman stabbed Eric in the abdomen with a knife and stole Buttons, one of the horses. Frantically, Aaron got Eric on the other horse and stormed back to Alexandria to save Eric's life. Once inside, Aaron rushes Eric to the infirmary - there they discover Dr. Denise Cloyd sleeping with Heath. Denise then brought Eric inside to operate. Aaron was comforted by Rick awaiting Eric's surgery. Aaron told Rick about what happened with the woman, and how he has an intense fear of blood. Denise comes out, revealing to Aaron that Eric will be just fine. Aaron tearfully tends to Eric and embraces him, kissing Eric. Later, Maggie came to Aaron asking about Eric. Appreciative, Aaron thanks Maggie for her thoughts but also apologizes for losing her horse, Buttons. Maggie doesn't mind, claiming that Buttons might be happier being outside all the time. Later in the day, the Safe-Zone was attacked by Scavengers who traced the community back from a gunshot by Rick when executing Dr. Pete Anderson for abusing his wife, Jessie, and killing Douglas's wife, Regina. Rick and the community kill the Scavengers with no causalities, however, the gunfire attracts a nearby herd. No Way Out Following the attack from the Scavengers, Aaron visits Douglas. While comforting him and apologizes for his loss, Aaron confronts Douglas about him and Eric finally retiring from the recruitment program. Against Douglas's wishes, Aaron claims that they were lucky with Rick's group, and that like the woman that stabbed Eric and the Scavengers, only bad people exist outside the walls and they can't risk bringing them to Alexandria, and Aaron no longer wishes to put Eric in that danger. During their discussion, a large herd of roamers from the city then surround Alexandria, trapping everyone inside. Rick, stepping in for Douglas, leads the people during this crisis. However, a panel of the wall breaks down and Alexandria gets swarmed with roamers. Aaron and Eric retreat to their house. Eric becomes nervous that the roamers saw them enter the house, but Aaron reassures him that they're fine. While waiting for a way out, Aaron spots Rick and Michonne fighting the herd. Aaron wishes to go out and help them, but Eric says it's too dangerous. While more and more people join the fight, Aaron and, reluctantly, Eric, help fight in the battle against the roamers. Eventually, the community clears the herd out and saves Alexandria. We Find Ourselves During the aftermath, Aaron becomes one of Rick's closest friends and informs him about the immediate area being picked clean of supplies. This leads to Rick taking Aaron and a larger group further out to map out the surrounding area. A Larger World When Paul is captured and held inside the infirmary, Aaron advises Rick that he shouldn't keep Paul kept hostage. He reminds Rick that when he offered Rick and his group to join, it turned out to be genuine and that the same could be true with Paul. Something To Fear Aaron is not seen participating in the initial conflict with the Saviors, however he is seen helping to load guns with what little ammunition the Safe-Zone had in stock. Later, when Eric tries to convince Aaron they should leave and fend for themselves, Aaron insists that Rick knows what he's doing and that they should be patient. March To War Weeks later, he goes with Paul to scout one of the Savior outposts. They both discover that the outpost is empty and realize that the Saviors who occupied it had gone to Alexandria. The duo regroup with Ezekiel and a bus full of the Kingdom survivors and drive towards Alexandria. Once arriving, Paul subdues Negan while Shiva mauls some Saviors and Aaron shoots at them with some Kingdom survivors, but, Negan manages to escape. All Out War - Part One Aaron is one of many volunteers to travel with Rick to the Sanctuary. He witness the confrontation and takes part in the shootout. He later is seen talking with both Eric and Heath about Holly, saying that "what's happening to her right now... is what we're fighting against." Eric wryly remarks that he's always the optimist; Aaron responds that it'll be worth it when they can get back to "just worrying about the dead coming after us." Aaron is soon selected to be a member of Rick's strike team. He, alongside many others, attack one of The Savior outposts in D.C. As soon as the strike team starts charging the Savior forces, Eric is shot through the head. This momentarily phases Aaron and Rick tells him to stay put and watch for any Savior flanks. Aaron, however, rejoins the battle moments later and helps the strike team destroy The Savior outpost. After burning bodies, Aaron is seen holding Eric's arm, sorrowfully grieving for his fallen lover. Rick sees this and asks Aaron if he is okay, he responds by telling Rick he won't be okay until "every last one of those motherfuckers is dead." After arriving back at Alexandria, Aaron finds himself alone in his house. He is soon approached by Heath, who asks him how he is feeling. Aaron tells him that this is first time in ages that he has been in his house without Eric and jokes that they were always the "last two gay men on Earth". Heath tells him that he knows how he is feeling and Aaron hugs him in response. Aaron survives the battle and destruction of the Alexandria Safe Zone by Negan and the Saviors. He is later seen attending the funerals for the fallen of Alexandria, and leaves with the group for the Hilltop after the destruction of Alexandria. All Out War - Part Two Aaron moves to Hilltop along with the other survivors and participates in the Battle of Hilltop, he is seen partaking in the defense and fights alongside Rick and Nicholas. However, Negan and Dwight come from behind Aaron and Rick as Dwight shoots a bolt into Rick's abdomen, while Aaron witnesses in horror and comes to Rick's aid. In the aftermath of the first battle, along with Paul, Michonne, and Ezekiel, creates a team to cover Rick while he negotiates with Negan. Within the negotiation, Negan recognizes his faults and considers joining with Rick, only to have his neck slashed by Rick himself. The battle then resumes with Aaron and the others on the team combating the Saviors, later ended by Dwight acquiring Lucille and ordering them to stand down. Negan is saved and cared for, but instead of being executed, he is taken prisoner for life while the Saviors and others in Negan's community joins the Hilltop Colony. A New Beginning With winning the war, imprisoning Negan for life, and assimilating the Saviors; the communities thrive and are larger than ever. Within the following two years, the Alexandria Safe-Zone is rebuilt and the people of the Hilltop Colony spread out once again to the Kingdom and Safe-Zone. Aaron joins the Herd-Crew team led by Eugene Porter alongside Paul Monroe, Rosita Espinosa, and Heath. The crew is devised to deviate the roamer herds into uninhabitable areas away from the Hilltop Colony, the Kingdom, and the Alexandria Safe-Zone. On regular duty, Eugene strategizes the deviations and organizes Paul, Rosita, Heath, and himself to keep the zombies in formation, while Aaron leads the herd towards him by blowing a shofar. Using his carriage, Aaron leads the zombies further away from the communities. During one of their missions, they accidentally lead a herd into a group of survivors, accidentally killing one of them. They rescue the group led by a woman, named Magna, and take her and the group back to the Safe-Zone. Life and Death Aaron was part of the team that escorted Rick to the shore alongside Heath and Magna so that they could meet up with Ezekiel and his escorts to welcome Michonne back from her adventures out at sea. When she finally arrived, Aaron was relieved to see her return after so long. Rick put Aaron in charge of loading supplies from the boat to the wagon that day in time for the fair which Aaron very much agreed to. Later that day Aaron, Rick, Heath, and Magna took the supplies back to Alexandria, only to be stopped by Dwight wanting to talk to Rick, leading Aaron and Heath to unload the supplies and give a share to the Saviors. After Dwight discussed his leadership with Rick and left with the supplies, Aaron expressed how much he hated them, and Heath concurred with saying that they're the weird ones of the communities. Andrea then came out of the gate and asked for Rick. Aaron told her that he was talking to Dwight and should be in soon. Call To Arms Aaron is seen with the rest of the Militia shooting roamers to practice for the war with the Whisperers. He does well while Vincent almost dies. He returns to Alexandria. When Negan escapes his cell, Rick sends him, and Michonne to go and find him. They follow the path taken by the members of the Hilltop colony who are returning to their homes and using tracking skills Aaron finds the place where Negan split off from the pack, they also see he is with a companion or hostage. Fresh on the trail, they follow the tracks to the border made by the Whisperers where they find the fresh corpse of Brandon Rose who they realize was recently killed due to the fact that he hasn't reanimated they also realize that it was Brandon who released Negan. They enter the Whisperer's territory. While on the hunt for Negan, Michonne praises Paul Monroe calling him handsome and kind implying he would be a good boyfriend but Aaron reveals while he finds Paul attractive, he is not interested nor for anyone else since the death of Eric. They are then confronted by Whisperers led by Beta they try to explain that they are seeking a fugitive and mean no harm but Beta's group attacks anyway. They do not fatally harm any of the Whisperers and try to deflate the situation, Beta takes advantage of this and stabs Aaron in the gut. With help from the newly arrived Militia, Michonne manages to protect Aaron. She rushes him back to the Hilltop, begging him to hold on. When they arrive, she yells at them to find Doctor Carson. The Whisperer War Aaron wakes up in bed, still recovering from his stab wound. He finds Jesus standing over him. He tells Aaron that Rick has him rounding up troops back at the Hilltop and he wanted to see how Aaron was doing. He replies that he's getting stronger and will be back in action before it's all over. Alex bursts in, delighted to see Aaron and Jesus interacting, teasing them that they look like "the perfect couple". Jesus leaves and says goodbye to Aaron. Against the wishes of Dr. Carson and nurse Alex, Aaron gets out of bed before he could heal, not being able to just rest in bed while the colony prepares for battle. Alex catches him, but understands Aaron's need to get moving. Eventually, the Whisperers attack Hilltop with flaming arrows. While several colonists are killed, the colony and manor catches ablaze. While Maggie rescues Hershel Jr. from the fire, Aaron, risking his stitches, helps remove an unconscious Carl from the burning building. The colony manages to drive off the forces and win the battle, but Hilltop is thoroughly destroyed. Aaron and the surviving members of Hilltop make a mass exodus to Alexandria. A Certain Doom Aaron is one of many characters who say their goodbyes to Andrea. Later Aaron is one of many people who comfort Rick. Aaron is with the others as they mourn the lost. Lines We Cross Jesus is talking to Aaron about moving to the Hilltop, and Jesus confesses to Aaron that he loves him. Aaron agrees and the two make their way to the Hilltop. Unable to make it to Hilltop, they camp out and are encounter by Beta. Aaron is able to kill Beta, which he was shock to learn Beta was a professional athlete. Aaron along with Jesus find a Whisperer camp and killed the rest of them, safety a family of three which they design to take them with them. Killed Victims This list shows the victims Aaron has killed: *Bernie (Indirectly Caused, alongside his fellow Alexandria Herd Patrol members) *Beta *At least 3 unnamed Saviors *At least 3 unnamed Whisperers *Numerous counts of zombies Relationships Aaron and Paul are currently in a relationship.They are seen together sneaking towards a Savior outpost in Issue 113 when Aaron notes jokingly that Jesus is a bit of a show off. In Issue 154 Michonne tries to suggest that Aaron pursue a relationship with Jesus. Aaron says that even though Jesus is great he does not see him in that way. In Issue 157 Jesus is shown to care for Aaron, as evident when he visits Aaron who is recovering from his attack. Aaron says that he never knew Jesus cared, but says that he is indeed getting better. Alex teases that Jesus and Aaron should be a couple because of how alike they are, Jesus gets flustered and soon leaves, telling Aaron to get better soon. In Issue 158 Jesus indicates to Michonne that he is interested in Aaron. In Issue 169, Paul reveals to Rick that he and Aaron have started a relationship. In Issue 170, Jesus and Aaron talk about going to the Hilltop. Aaron is not sure if he feels useful and Jesus says he is pretty useful for him. Jesus confesses he is in love with him and Aaron is speechless but cleary happy with the statement. Eric Eric was Aaron's boyfriend and as such, they fiercely protected each other. It is not clear if Aaron and Eric knew each other before the apocalypse or if they met post-apocalypse, but, it is known that by the time they reached Alexandria they were a couple. Regardless, Eric and Aaron's loving relationship is shown as a sign of bravery and strength among the many other survivors they have come to know. When Eric and Aaron attempted to recruit a lone female survivor, she betrayed them and injured Eric which would go onto secure the communities awareness of their relationship. Eric survived the attack and the incident prompted that he and Aaron retire from recruiting, believing it to be too dangerous and that the community was full enough as is. Eric loyally follows Aaron's decisions and concerns, and vice verse as both go onto to become stronger warriors under Rick's leadership. Aaron is devastated by Eric's death, but, it appears to fuel his drive to fight the Saviors, as shown by his will to kill all of them in Issue 119. Towards the climax of the war, Aaron returned to their now empty home, with Heath comforting him in his time of grief and loneliness. Two years after the war, Aaron regained his optimistic and humorous nature - showing his acceptance of Eric's death. When prompted by Michonne about Paul Monroe as a possible boyfriend, Aaron responds that Paul is very attractive and kind, but isn't interested mainly because he hasn't been able to look at anyone the same as he did with Eric. Heath Heath and Aaron appear to share a good relationship often working and getting along with each other. Their friendship was shown in Issue 119 when Heath checked on Aaron to see how he was taking Eric's death, he gave him a hug and expressed that he was sorry for his loss. Rick Grimes After watching over Rick's group for an unknown amount of time, Aaron approached the group in hopes of recruiting them as new citizens for the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Rick was initially and understandably skeptical of Aaron at first, concerned that he may be part of another Woodbury type group or someone who is generally deceiving. Aaron believed in Rick's decisions and trusted he would not harm him after having his fears put at ease upon seeing the safe-zone. After coming back to the safe-zone, the group settled in and time passed before the Alexandria Safe-Zone chaos. Aaron and Eric were two of the more prominent citizens who would go onto begin following Rick's new order as they were shown to be stronger and more well equipped in a fight. When Negan escapes with the aid of Brandon, Rick puts his trust in Aaron and Michonne to find them. To this day, Aaron is still one of Rick's most loyal supports, and Rick has grown to trust Aaron very much. Douglas Monroe Aaron was very loyal to Douglas and was appointed by him to be the community scout along with Eric. After the unfortunate incident when Eric was stabbed by a potential newcomer, Aaron confronted Douglas about retiring from his position to become more intricate within the community. Initially appalled at this change of heart, Douglas came to embrace Aaron's decision and felt bad for the pain he had indirectly caused by giving them the job in the first place. Abraham Ford Abraham was the first of Rick's group to acknowledge trust Aaron. After reaching and settling into Alexandria, the two seemed to work and get along well. Aaron was also seen grieving at Abraham's funeral. Maggie Greene Aaron and Maggie appear to have a good relationship. Maggie trusted Aaron and Eric with Buttons and the other horse, showing Maggie trusts him. When Buttons was stolen, Aaron apologized to her and Maggie was quick to forgive him and asked how Eric was doing, after he was stabbed by the thief. Michonne Hawthorne Aaron and Michonne haven't interacted much since meeting each other. Two years after the war, however, Michonne returned to Alexandria and was greeted by Aaron. Since then, the two developed a closer friendship. When looking for an escaped Negan, Michonne suggest to Aaron that he should pursue Paul Monroe as a romantic interest since he is now single. When Aaron is stabbed, Michonne is shocked and risks her life to save his. She rushes him back to the Hilltop, begging him to hold on and not die. }} Appearances Trivia *Aaron is afraid of blood, suffering from hemophobia. **However, later issues seem to suggest that he has partially or fully gotten over this phobia, as he has been exposed to blood numerous times (particularly through his own stabbing at the hands of Beta) without any noticeable overreaction. *Aaron is one of the original survivors of the community group led by Douglas. **He was also the first Alexandrian to be introduced, and longest living one. *As of Issue 189, Aaron has more appearances than any other Alexandrian. *Aaron has directly killed two de-facto leaders of the Whisperers. The first being Beta and the second being the unnamed Whisperer. es:Aaron (cómic) ru:Аарон (комикс) Category:Walking Dead Characters Category:Comic Characters Category:Alexandria Safe-Zone Category:Comics Category:Alive Category:The Militia